Continuing on with the Pac-10 roundtable discussions, today’s focus is Oregon State.

YellowFever: Does anyone know how to pronounce Yvenson?  What kind of parents name their kid Yvenson?  That’s boggled my mind for years.  Incredible name aside, he’s a pretty good player.  It’s hard for me to come to terms with the fact that Oregon State won 10 games last year, because they’ve been a relative doormat for quite some time, finishing 10-4 last year after going 5-6, 7-5, and 8-5 the previous three years.   Maybe it’s not an outright shock that they would win a few more games, but it was surprising nonetheless.  On offense, they’ve got the aforementioned Bernard as a foundation, but with the graduation of Matt Moore they’re looking for a new QB.  And their leading returning receiver, Sammie Stroughter, has left the team indefinitely to deal with some personal matters.  So while the offense might look a little shaky at the beginning of the year breaking in a new QB and learning to live for a while without their number one receiver, they’ll still have Bernard to give the rock to.

TwistNHook: I’ve been waiting for this game for two years now!  OSU 05 was perhaps the most brutal loss in recent Cal memory.  Sure, Tenn 06 and USC 05 were humiliating blowouts, but I felt Cal was a much better team than OSU in 05.  Yet, with Marshawn benched for an entire half due to a fumbling problem and Joe Ayoob our QB, the offense mustered NOTHING.  IIRC, we lost 20-23.  So close!  Cal could barely get anything going in the 2nd half. OSU’s punter kept putting the Cal offense behind the 10, I felt like Cal spent the entire day trying to reach their own 20 yard line and failing.

Last year I was stunned when they defeated USC, because we had handled them so well earlier in the year.  They were a surprise team last year and I think they could have another good year this year.  Similar to ASU, they have frontloaded their schedule with home games.  4 in the first 6 weeks. This could lead them to early season success and, again similar to ASU, a national ranking.

But then look at the last 6 games.  They only have 2 home games, Stanford and UDub.  Two worst teams in the Pac-10 IMHO, so that’s not doing them any favors.  Road, home, they’d probably win.  Cal, USC, Wazzu, and Oregon are the 4 road games in the last 6 games.  Two of the best teams in the Pac10, a pretty good Wazzu team and a Oregon team that hopes to recapture the hype from last year.  Could be tough.

I see their season perhaps being like ASU’s.  Early season success with maybe some rough patches down the stretch.  They do have to replace their QB, but have a pretty good D with apparently some of the best LBs in the Pac10.

HydroTech: I’ve been getting super high off of OSU for the past month, but now with the loss of Sammie Stroughter I’m having my doubts.  They had a very talented one-two punch with Stroughter and Bernard, but now they only have a one punch.  Still, I think they’ll make for very formidable competition in the Pac and might be the catalyst that shakes up the standings.

YellowFever, you bring up the good point that OSU won 10 games last year but yet it seems as if nobody remembers.  They might have had the quietest 10 win season of all time!  Actually, despite the fact that they beat U$C, I think most people still forgot about them because they started off the season with a mediocre record.  They KOed the cupcakes on their sked, but then proceeded to get walloped by Boise St. and Cal.  Also, 4 out of their 10 wins last year were decided by 3 points or less.  Talk about cutting in close!  Clutch or luck?  I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and go with clutch but if they want to make a bigger blip on the national radar then they gotta start blowing up the competition.  While margin-of-victory is no longer a component in the BCS, it still is (whether unconsciously or consciously) for the human voters.

And how boring in their non-conference schedule this year!  Utah, Cincy, and Idaho St.!  I mean, I guess Utah is okay, but I think people give Utah too much benefit of the doubt just because Urban Meyer used to coach there, but Cincy and Idaho St.!  It’s bad enough to play Idaho, but Idaho St.!  I’m not sure that should even count as a win.

Which brings up the point of playing non D1-A schools.  I hate it when teams do that.  I hated it when Cal played Sacramento St. (for obvious injury reasons), and hated it when we had to play Portland St.  It’s just not fair to all the other teams in the national that play all D1-A opponents (no matter how crappy they may be) to play an even crappier non D1-A team.  I say, wins against non D1-A teams shouldn’t count for your win total, but should count as losses if you lose.  Cuz if you’re bad enough to lose to a non D1-A team (cough, cough, Stanfurd) you deserve that big L, lots of shame, and consideration for eviction from your conference. 

I want to see OSU play LSU again.  Even though Alex Serna might have single handedly lost the game for the Beavers a few years ago, that kid is money now. 

YellowFever: Did you know Oregon State had 47 sacks last year?  That was good enough for third in the country, and first in the Pac-10.  Their defense otherwise came in solidly in the middle of the pack, ranking sixth in the conference in total defense and fifth in scoring defense.  The expectation seems to be that with most of the parts returning from this mediocre defense (they would have ranked 59th in the country in yards allowed, and 54th in scoring defense) they’ll improve even more, and I can’t say that I disagree.  I’m just not feeling their offense if they lose Stroughter, along with the fact that they’ll have a new QB for the first time in two years.

I’ve got Oregon State at seventh in the Pac-10 - hey, someone’s got to disappoint this year, and a team without their All-Pac-10 wideout and their starting QB from the last two years seems as good an option as any.

HydroTech: 47 sacks!!!  Can anyone say "max protect"?  With that many sacks, how did they only finish in the middle of the Pac for total defense?  I guess as soon as they take away yardage from the offense they feel guilty and just give it right back.

I’m going to have to disagree with you, YellowFever.  I think OSU will continue to surprise even without Straughter.  I have them finishing at #3 in the Pac due to their proficiency in sacking the QB and Yvenson.  Book it.  After U$C and Cal, the team to beat is Oregon State.

TwistNHook: This is something I was going to bring up when the time came to discuss UCLA.  But if OSU (and UCLA) is as blitz blitz blitz as their numbers suggest, then I think Cal has just the right offense to deal with that. Lotsa talent at WR, good pass-catching RBs.  Weapons that can quickly receive the ball.  I hope we screen the F out of them.

And other teams might have a similar mindset when dealing with these uber-aggressive Ds.  That might explain how they’d have so many sacks, but not have a really effective defense.

I also have them high this year.  I think most people have UCLA at #3, but I think thats based mostly off of the USC game from last year.  But we can talk about that later.  But with UCLA knocked down a bit, that moves OSU
up.

Though now with the loss of Straughter, I’m a bit as hesitant.  But nobody else really jumps out at me this year, so why not put them high?  I still think that they’ll do well this year.

YellowFever: I think there’s a perfectly good argument to be made for Oregon State building upon what they did last year, but you never know what’s going to happen with a new QB, especially when a team’s most reliable wide receiver isn’t there any more either.  And god dammit, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

TwistNHook:  I guess the real question is how will OSU respond to losing their QB and #1 wideout.  That can make or break a team, but with an easy early schedule to work it all in together, that might make the transition a lot easier.

The Ballots

In the order of: HydroTech, Ragnarok, TwistNHook, Yellow Fever
1.
2.
3. OSU, __, OSU, UO
4. __, OSU, __, __
5. UO, ASU, __, ASU
6. __,   UO, UO,  __
7. ASU, UA, UA, OSU
8. UA,  __, ASU, UA
9.
10.